Reality Roundup – 6/12/09

-Apparently I ruffled some feathers yet again. The media attention from Tuesday’s column is a hell of a lot more than I ever expected. Especially since some of the reporting of what I said is flat out wrong. Nice journalism. I’ve been informed by a Canadian reader that on the Canadian version of “Entertainment Tonight”, the reporter actually quoted my website by saying “Reality Steve says Kiptyn was paid $50,000 to appear on the show”. I challenge anyone to find the part of Tuesday’s column where I said that. I said this in a Reality Roundup column on 3/27/09 (check the archives) and I brought it up again Tuesday. What I said was I know two guys who were offered $50,000 to come on the show and TURNED IT DOWN. I then speculated that MAYBE ABC decided to offer money to other people, but I didn’t know. All I knew for sure was two people were offered money and turned it down. So once again, selective reading by people. Never ceases to amaze me. Would I be surprised if one or two guys on this season were paid to come on? Of course not. But if it happened, I would have no idea who were the guys who accepted money, and neither will anyone else since the guys in question and ABC would never admit to it. So it’s a moot point.

-Then we get some website called BuddyTV.com that runs the most misleading headline of a column I’ve ever seen. Check out this link:

See how one headline can be so misleading. Saying that “men are paid to act single” implies that the guys that were paid, if there were any, all had girlfriends. If they said, “Reality Steve Claims Men Paid to Come on Show”, well, even that wouldn’t be 100% accurate because that would imply that I know some of the men this season were paid to come on. Is it possible? Yes. Do I know it for a fact? No. I just know that two were offered and rejected it. So the bottom line is, the headline of this column should’ve been, “Reality Steve Claims Men MIGHT’VE Been Paid to Come on Show”. The funny thing about this column is the whole column is just ripping quotes from what I wrote Tuesday. There’s nothing in it that’s their own original material. So thank you for the exposure BuddyTV.com, whoever you are.

-I haven’t picked up my copy yet, but I was also interviewed over email by “Star” magazine this week, so pick that up this weekend if you get a chance. I really hope that one didn’t misquote me since I have email proof of everything I answered. “Star” did a good job last time when they interviewed me, so I can’t imagine I can be misquoted on something I answered back in an email. And if I am, well, maybe I’ll just bust out the email and print it for all those to see. But I haven’t read the article yet, so I don’t know what it says. Basically just asked about the guys this season, who might be on to advance their career, were some of the guys paid, and so on. And my answer was no different than what I’ve said on my blog for the last couple months. I told them exactly what I know is fact, and then what I know to be rumored. I clearly distinguished between the two.

-Enough about the bad press, here is someone who deserves credit for what they wrote in regards to my column on Tuesday. Lindsay Connor, who writes for the “Examiner.com”, completely took what I said and didn’t jump to conclusions like the others. Here’s the link to what she wrote, and honestly, she probably wrote it better than I did:

A job well done by Lindsay and I figured she should get recognized for it. That’s how you take what I said and write a column. Not jump to conclusions and put your own spin on it.

-I want to make one thing clear. What happened last season on the “Bachelor” was probably a once in a lifetime event. I happened to get lucky and the information fell into my lap. Do I have sources this season? Yes. But when nothing really crazy is happening, there’s really nothing to report. Yes, a bachelor goes home on Monday and there’s a mini-story there, but it’s nothing of the magnitude of the Jason/Molly/Melissa fiasco. Nothing will ever come close to that. I’m not making stuff up just to get attention. Didn’t do it last season (as you all realized once the finale aired) and am not doing it this season. All I’m doing is reporting what I hear from my sources. In addition, I specify exactly what I know to be 100% true, and I specify what is still speculation. This season, what is 100% true is Dave was told to act nervous during the meet-and-greet and that “silence” was re-shot three times (more on Dave in a second), that there were two men offered money to be on the show this year that turned it down, and the storyline of a bachelor leaving the show in Monday’s episode. Whether you choose to believe me when I say those things is up to you, but I think I’ve built up enough credibility based on what I told you last season.

-I’m not making stuff up so I can appear in magazines or other internet sites. If that’s what people find interesting and they want to run it, great. Just get your facts straight. My main objective with my blog has always been to entertain first, and to point out how ridiculously fake the show is second. That’s it. It’s what I do. If you don’t want to hear about how contestants are told to do certain things, and you don’t want to hear how manipulating the show is, then this probably isn’t the site for you. I write a recap in my own sophomoric, slanted, skewed view of how I see it, and I try to include moments either that I think are fake, or know are fake. I think my ultimate goal in life is to convince every single person who watches this show to watch it for pure entertainment value and nothing else. If you really get attached to these people, and really think people are on this show to find love and ABC is creating a love story themselves, then you are watching for the wrong reasons and will ultimately be disappointed. This isn’t real. This isn’t reality. These people are put in situations and essentially told what to do and say. So calling it “reality” is BS. I could go on and on with examples, but I think you get the point. It’s my job to just enlighten you about the farce this show is once I come into some information.

-As for Dave and Juan, they had their conference call yesterday with the media that I got a chance to listen to and take notes. I was going to post what I had taken down, but another site did it much more thoroughly, so I’ll just link to them. I’ve read both of these columns and basically this is what was said. RealityTVworld.com and RealityWanted.com do these interview recaps every week with the booted bachelor/s, so it’s always a good read. They obviously record it and transcribe it, so it’s much more thorough than the chicken scratch I came up with. Here are the links if you want to hear what both guys had to say:

I think I’m going to start having the links to these conference call interviews up every Friday from now on. If either of these sites haven’t posted anything by the time my column is up, I’ll just recap what I had from my notes. Essentially, Dave’s point about his behavior was that we saw 1% of what he’s really like, and ABC knew they had good material so they ran with it. I fully expected him to say that. Once again, I can’t feel sorry for him because that’s what this show does. If he didn’t know that, or doesn’t like it, then he shouldn’t have gone on the show.

The one thing I want to point out from this interview was the thing I pointed out in my column this week about his “nervousness” being something he was told to do. He got asked that in the interview (not specifically about what I said, but about was he really “tongue tied” that night), and be sure to read his answer. I will say this. I was listening to this conference call. I heard how he answered the question, and let me just say, you could tell that he was hiding the fact it was something he was put up to. When he first started to answer the question, he laughed, then paused, then hesitated before giving the answer. Here’s what I was able to transcribe from his answer. This is directly from my notes.

“No, I wasn’t really. They wanted us to have a plan, an idea. Stand out from everyone else. I’m confident, borderline cocky person. That would turn her off. I thought the best idea for me was to act nervous and star struck. It worked. She called me out on it. That was my idea.”

Sure it was his idea. An idea that was put into his head by producers. I mean, the guy basically just admitted it was all an act. If he would’ve said, “No, I really found it hard to speak to her. I was star struck”, then you can question the validity to what I said. But he basically confirms it was something he came up with, which is an easy way to answer the question without giving away that someone else told him to do it. Man I love being proven right.

“Jon & Kate Plus 8”

-I want to congratulate “US Weekly” for now having a “Jon and Kate” story on the cover for seven consecutive weeks. Seven!!!! Holy crap. There’s actually a small part inside me that wants to leave these people alone. Well, not really. Especially after seeing this clip. Kate and the kids were set to go live in an on air interview recently and one of them was thirsty and wanted some water. Kate, being Mega Bitch Mom of the Year, basically withheld water from her daughter. But hell if she didn’t take a sip herself. Unbelievable. No wonder the kid thinks she’s mean. She really does this. You know what, I’m glad Jon is boinking some 23 year old. Good for him. How he could put up with this woman is beyond me. Check this out:

Really? It’s asking that much to let your kid have a sip of water before you go live? Now if you say, “Well, if she would’ve given her a sip, then the other seven would’ve wanted one and there wasn’t enough time”, well, then Kate shouldn’t have basically taunted a dehydrated kid by drinking water herself. I would’ve walked off the interview if I were the little one. Just be like, “That’s it. I’m gone. I can’t deal with her.” How great would that have been? I don’t think I will ever get enough stories of infidelity and horrible parenting with these two. Keep it comin’ “US Weekly”!

Back at it on Tuesday with your “Bachelorette” recap. I will have more details on the exiting bachelor and his status with the show. Still working on a photo banner up that links directly to the RealitySteve.com merchandise store, but for the time being, visit it at: www.RealitySteve.com/store. Any questions, comments, praises, criticisms, stories, feedback on the store, email me at steve@realitysteve.com. See you Tuesday.

11 Comments

jljohnson

June 12, 2009 at 3:02 PM

You know you’re making a name for yourself when people start telling lies about you!

I can’t get enough of these stories about what terrible parents Jon & Kate are, either. First of all, you would think it would have been in her best interest to make sure all the kids were comfortable and happy BEFORE they started the interview. I have a daughter and I can say that you have to be patient and accommodating when it comes to kids. I don’t think it would have killed her to say, “Sorry, we need to wait 10 minutes to start the interview, my kids are very thirsty.”

just4dafunofit

June 12, 2009 at 3:11 PM

Ditto what JLJ just said…

Also wanted to point out on WHo-AHn’s exit interview, he mentions how he looks forward to hanging out with Ed, Jake and Reid… The way it sounds to me, none of them are the F1… Hmmm and I liked Ed and Reid for our bachelorette. Too bad!

AzureSong

June 13, 2009 at 12:30 AM

If you watched J&K regularly, you’d know that Mady is constantly whining and complaining. A drama queen. A crier. So when Mady says she really really needs water, she probably doesn’t.

sunnydaisy

June 13, 2009 at 12:15 PM

Whiny brat or not, as a parent, your kids come first. If your kid is thirsty and there is only one bottle of water you give it to the kids first. If there’s a sip left for the mom after, great, if not, that’s what happens when you have kids. Sometimes you have to go without. What kind of mother takes a gulp of water in front of a kid who’s complaining about being thirsty? And on camera? She could at least pretend to care about her kids while she’s being taped. Not to mention, you’d think Kate would know by now to pack a bag of snacks and drinks for her kids. It’s not as if she can’t afford 8 juice boxes and some animal crackers. If she insists on parading her kids around the country like a bunch of circus freaks, it’s only fair they get to enjoy some of the rewards. Like, getting a freaking drink when they’re thirsty… I hate that these people are in the news. Really hate it. It would be entertaining if there weren’t kids involved, but there are. I just really, really hope a big chunk of the money they get is going into a giant therapy jar for the kids, because they’re going to need lots of it!

jmurphy75

June 14, 2009 at 1:39 PM

You know…I just want to say something about the Jon and Kate thing. RS – I read here sometimes, but haven’t been back since this season’s Bachelorette and didn’t know you were covering Jon and Kate! Should have, though 🙂 Yeah, this is long. Don’t read it if you don’t want to!

Now, you can say what you want about Kate having all of those children being interviewed like that…on this particular day – January 26, 2009 – they were being interviewed because Octomom had just had her children and everyone wanted to interview Kate. Remember that date! Say she is “working them too hard” whatever. They “shouldn’t be working”, etc. But they have been working with the Dept. of Labor – from what I can tell long before these “claims of an investigation” came out. Plus, that part is on TLC, NOT KATE, in my opinion. She knows what her children can handle and what they can’t. If that is against the rules, then it’s up to the show to know that – not Kate!

Back to “Water-gate”!!

Remember, Kate is the one doing 90% of the talking. Ever tried to talk with a dry mouth? Kate is the personality type that would be frustrated with herself for tripping over her words because she had dry mouth!

None of the other children were whining “I am thirsty”!! JUST MADY – and like another person mentioned, that is a very common emotion from her. I don’t condemn her for it though…she is a very normal 8 yo who uses her emotions!

Kate made arrangements for when that 5 minute (or less!) interview was over, then their helper would have water for them in their “special cups”. I don’t know for sure, but these could very easily be non-spilling cups.

When you have one child and give them a cup and it spills, no big deal. When you have 8 children together and give them a cup and a few of them spill it, it is not only a mess but then you have the chance of 8 of them disolving into screams of “I AM ALL WET! Hannah spilled water down my back!” or “Collin spilled it on my head!” or any number of other scenerios.

Or if Kate gave Mady the water – remember, they told her right before they were going on air live! – the others would start whining, complaining, crying or screaming “I WANT SOME!” “It was my turn to have the water first!” “No fair, she got more than me!”

She IS their mother and she knows what stuff like that will bring about…and that would be VERY UNPROFESSIONAL for the camera to cut to them LIVE screaming about one bottle of water!

Can you IMAGINE if that had happened? There would be complaints of “Why only one bottle of water? She is a complete idiot – she KNEW that would happen!”

But even more than all of that, there may be RULES about that type of thing! The bottle of water didn’t have a cover over the label. If that was seen on camera, there may be problems. I don’t know for sure, but that probably wouldn’t really enter our minds…but Kate has had to deal with this for many years. She knows what can be seen on camera and what can’t and the problems it causes for sponsors, etc. They couldn’t “blur it out” because it was live. This may NOT have been an issue, but it may have been something else in Kate’s mind. Because she did try to reach for it – where she put it WAY out of her reach and out of camera sight. But when they told her there was no time, she couldn’t give it to her.

Some or all of these scenerios could have been going through Kate’s head. This all happened in less than a minute! She was there to be professional, do her job and doing things properly so she gets invited back. As she has said, this IS her job!

Again, say what you will about those children having to be “professional” – but this was a rare day. Many of their interviews take place in their home. Or they do ONE interview. But this day, it was multiple stations wanting her input because of Octomom. But there is absolutely no denying that when they are in situations such as this – I am certainly not saying all though! – they are definitely working!

But child stars do the “interviewing circuit” all the time. Talk shows – which are longer than these snipits of basically “sound bite interviews” (3 minutes or less probably with the interviewer!) They will spend a week or more “promoting” whatever it is they are promoting. This is not an everyday occurance for the Gosselin children.

My biggest reason for having a problem with this coming out this past week – again more than 4 MONTHS after it happened – is that whoever was in charge obviously felt it was NO BIG DEAL at the time…or it would have been released as “fodder for the masses”. After all, they put out the “I like Daddy better than you” and the “I don’t like the tups cause they lie and are annoying!” – both of those coming from Mady of course!

Last but not least, again remembering Kate is Mady’s mother, she knows what is just “Mady being Mady” (and of course, the same is true for the other 7…Hannah being Hannan or Joel being Joel, etc!) or if she is really so thirsty she can’t go on another minute without having something. I saw that as Mady was tired and bored – the other children were interacting with each other, playing with their slinkies, etc. Cara was playing with the tups on the couch, keeping them occupied. The ones on the floor were doing their own thing. Mady was sitting next to her mom and was constantly trying to interact with her. NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT – don’t get me wrong! But Kate also had a “job” to do and to be professional about it…remember, they go through “Media Training” to learn how to act in situations like this. And being cut to “live” with the tups all screaming and yelling for a sip of water from one water ball would be again, very unprofessional and Kate being the type of person she is, well that just wouldn’t be OK! There are sure, some mothers that wouldn’t care what-so-ever if her children were all melting into crying, screaming youngsters – but that is not Kate. Face it, the reason we all started loving this family is because they were so happy, seemingly healthy and entertaining. As a mother, you KNOW what it sounds like when they all “melt” at the same time. It’s different when it happens on live tv, with the camera cutting to that scene. It’s just not acceptable – again, say what you will about this comment – but that could cause her to lose her job! People don’t want to hear that kind of thing and trust me, there would be complaints!

Since again, these interviews that day were very short, all 8 had water in their hands within 5 minutes if I were to bet.

I think so many people have forgotten that we do NOT get to tell people how to live their lives or raise their chidlren. If they are breaking laws or abusing them (which would of course be breaking a law!) then fine…fix it, punish them, whatever it takes.

That does NOT mean the children get taken from her – can you imagine that court scene? The judge is shown how Kate withheld water from them for 5 minutes therefore her children should be taken away? Because while that is not what RS is saying, many others are elsewhere! They are saying this is the “PROOF” they have been looking for that she is an evil, nasty monster and not a mother.

And I can say these things because what I see are very normal 5 and 8 year old children. They are actually very happy and seemingly well-adjusted.

I am sure some – or many – will jump on some or all of this post (if they even read it…LOL!!) but it is how I see it.

Never2Late

June 14, 2009 at 4:16 PM

Here is a spoiler for you. Everyone is speculating on the F1. I think it is her first “crush” that she told Reid about. He sees the show where she mentions him, gets in touch with the show producers and starts talking to Jillian off camera. At the end, she realizes that he is the one for her and that is what is “revealed” in the last 5 minute surprise that everyone keeps referring to!

JenInCanada

June 14, 2009 at 10:47 PM

If you wonder why Wes is really on the show, one quick trip to “weshayden.com” will answer you question – Front Row Centre is his release of the new “hit song” he sang to Jillian. Brilliant work by his studio manager, get your man cast on a popular reality show. I listened to it – just terrible singing…

gina bina

June 15, 2009 at 11:28 AM

So true about the Jon + Kate stuff. Looking forward to reading your next Bachelorette recap. I promise not to selectively read it! HAHA!

leslierose

June 15, 2009 at 3:03 PM

jmurphy75 – you can’t be serious. do you really have that much invested in defending this woman? your post was longer than steve’s! bottom line if it took you THAT long to defend her actions it’s too long for an 8 year old to comprehend. let alone 6 of them as well as the older twins. they shouldn’t have been in the situation in the first place! if she was the only one talking then why were they paraded out? unless the money is being split and held in trust there is no excuse, and even then there is a question. thankfully, their state’s labor board is looking into it. until then, someone needs a hobby.

Dianne

June 16, 2009 at 9:15 AM

Kate made a bad judgement call. Denying your child a sip of water is rediculous! So what if water gets spilled? Seems to me that all of the extra publicity that Kate has been receiving lately has gone straight to her head. Never liked her..never will.